Thomas Cook’s Freedom Travel Group has fallen into line with other Atol-accredited bodies by starting to work under a financial trust.
The consortium, which came under Cook’s control as part of the retail joint venture with the The Co-operative Travel Group, hit an extended deadline of November 1.
The development was among of raft of announcements due to be made this week by Freedom head Kelly Cookes at its annual conference in Disneyland Paris.
An original deadline for accredited bodies to have trusts in place was extended to May 1 but Freedom remained the only one not have complied after that date.
This prompted criticism of the CAA, the regulator that oversees Atol, which had agreed an interim arrangement with Freedom but vowed to ensure a level playing field.
Cookes said: “We were going through a big period of change within the business and we had to deal with some of those issues first to make sure the trust was implemented correctly.
“We were always intending to hit the later deadline and were working on the trust prior to the extension.”
The May 1 deadline coincided with industry rumours, never confirmed by Cook, that it was in advanced negotiations to sell Freedom.
Andy Cohen, CAA head of Atol, said getting all eight accredited bodies to sign trust deeds with the CAA was a “significant milestone”.
“Having trust accounts in place means more than 1,100 independent travel companies now have better financial protection and these arrangements will also provide increased benefits to customers.”
Cookes said Freedom surpassed targets over the last year and had lost only seven members. She promised increased support as part of phase one of new investment.
New support roles at Freedom and sister firm Co-operative Personal Travel Advisors at its Altrincham head office to support recruitment, training, IT and marketing were announced. For details see this week’s Travel Weekly.